Sooners Prepare for Unique Air Force System

OU will have to change its game plans on both sides of the ball to prepare for the Falcons.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:56 am

By: News On 6

Sooners Prepare for Unique Air Force System

Originally Published: Sep 14, 2010 4:34 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma – The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off a resounding victory over a ranked opponent, but will now be forced to make a quick and difficult transition.

The Sooners will welcome Air Force to Norman on Saturday and will face vastly different schemes on both sides of the ball. The Falcons’ running game revolves around the option, a system that has almost become extinct in college football.

“Offensively, they present a different attack than you’re used to seeing with the formations and all the different options and perimeter plays they give you,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “It will be a big challenge, not only physically but mentally. You need to be able to execute against them in all parts of the game.”

Air Force scored 100 points combined in its first two games, which included a 35-14 victory over BYU. Three different running backs – Asher Clark, Jared Tew and Jonathan Warzeka – have rushed for more than 100 yards this season, with quarterback Tim Jefferson not far behind.

As a team, the Falcons have rushed for 846 yards – by far the most in the nation – with an average per carry of 6.7 yards. By comparison, the Sooners have rushed for 288 yards with an average of 3.3 yards per carry.

Prestigious football programs rarely choose to play Air Force in non-conference play, and Stoops said that is because teams have to drastically change their defensive game plan. Such changes have the potential to kill momentum gained in previous weeks.

“You don’t see [Air Force’s style] all year,” Stoops said. “It’s rare that you play against it and then once you do play against it, you won’t play against it again. So it’s a lot of preparation and a lot of time that gets put in to something that you’re only going to do one time.”

The Sooners also cannot count on Air Force making many mistakes. The Falcons tend to take good care of the football and do not beat themselves, and they combine that with an opportunistic defense.

“They’re really a disciplined, excellent executing team,” Stoops said. “Everyone talks about their offense, but defensively a year ago they led the country in interceptions. They led the country in turnover margin and they’re doing it well again this year.”

The Falcons forced a total of four turnovers in their first two games, but their offense will also affect the game plan of offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and the OU offense.

“Air Force is a ball control team, so you don’t get as many opportunities,” Wilson said. “The game goes fast, they hawk the ball on defense and when they get it they run the ball.”

The Falcons’ ball control offense is aided by a team-wide toughness that prevents them from being pushed around. Wilson said that is one of the biggest challenges their defense poses.

“The deal with this defense is that they’re very quick,” Wilson said. “They have great kids at Air Force with character and discipline, but these guys are trained to go to war. They’re not sissies; they’re trained to kill people. So they play hard, violent, fast.”

Trip Down Memory Lane

The Sooners’ only previous game against Air Force came in 2001, which Bob Stoops recounted Tuesday as one of his favorite moments in his coaching career. At that time, the Falcons were led by head coach Fisher DeBerry, who Stoops idolized.

The Sooners played a solid game, won easily and began celebrating afterward. But when the Air Force players began their post-game tradition of singing their fight song with the student section, OU stopped celebrating and stood at attention out of respect.

“Fisher commented to me a little while after that he really appreciated the class we represented Oklahoma with, the class our players played with, and the respect we showed his team afterward,” Stoops said. “That meant a lot to me because I was a guy that looked up to Fisher DeBerry and the way he coached.”